“The
traditional engineers are no longer relevant and we continue to evolve. The
three things that should be critical at institutions are teaching students the
value of a good attitude, a foreign language and inculcating critical thinking
skills. Because with the rapid changes taking place, you can't be confined to
any one area anymore. Those skills are transferable, no matter what area you
end up”
Executive Director at the
CMI (Caribbean Maritime Institute), Dr Fritz Pinnock in comments to the Jamaica
Gleaner after the launch of the Maritime Awareness Exhibition held at the CMI
on Monday September 21st 2015
The
face of Engineering may soon be radically change towards a more
multi-disciplinary approach. The idea of being purely a Mechanical, Electrical,
Power, Instrumentation, Electronics and Telecoms, Chemical or Civil Engineer in
Jamaica might soon be old hat in the next five to ten years.
Folks,
queue the song Automatic
by the Pointer Sisters!
So
says Executive Director at the CMI (Caribbean Maritime Institute), Dr Fritz
Pinnock who is heralding a trend towards to Robotics and Programming on the
horizon as reported in the article
“‘Traditional
engineers are no longer relevant' - Caribbean Maritime Institute head”,
Published Tuesday September 22, 2015, The
Jamaica Gleaner.
He
made these comments to the Jamaica Gleaner after the launch of the Maritime
Awareness Exhibition held at the CMI on Monday September 21st 2015.
During
that conversation, he made mention of plans to launch a degree in Mechatronics,
which is basically a Degree combining knowledge of mechanical, electrical,
telecommunications, Instrumentation and control, and computer Programming as
explained in the article “Career
Walk Mechatronic engineer”, published Tuesday, July 01, 2014, The Jamaica Observer.
These
plans have long been in the offing, as he’d previous been seeking funding from
as far back a February 2014 from the PetroCaribe Fund to have Engineering firm
Festo build a state-of-the-art Mechatronics Lab to train Mechatronics (read
Robotics!) Engineers as reported in the article “Mechatronics
lab coming”, published Sunday, February 09, 2014 BY NADINE WILSON Career
& Education reporter, The Jamaica
Observer.
According
to Dr Fritz Pinnock, he's already seeing signs that there is a need for such an
amalgam of skills, with a yearly demand of some 40,000 seafarers from his
school alone.
Already
I can see many CMI students on the MICO University College Campus milling
around since September 2015 and going to do courses, as there is a space
shortage at the CMI as reported in “Caribbean
Maritime Institute Facing Space Constraints As Enrolment Increases”,
published Wednesday September 2, 2015, The
Jamaica Gleaner.
Many
of his graduates from the CMI find themselves being paid well for their
multi-disciplinary approach and transferrable skills, quote: “That's the
requirement on a yearly basis and these officers are earning US$3,000 a month.
These opportunities are out there, particularly in the shipping industry, but
we have to change the traditional way of doing things”.
Yes
folks you read that right: US$3000 per month as a Maritime Engineer. But the
combination of all those disciplines also points to something else coming to
Jamaica: Robotics Engineering and Programming.
Robotics Engineering is a
field that Pays - How Robotics Engineering is vital to Jamaica's Growth
Robotics
Engineering or Mechatronics as it's called in Australia, is curiously the focus
of Australia as explained in my blog article
entitled “Australia
and Robots in Farming and Mining - Why Programming taught at Early Childhood
necessary as Robots and Drones need Drone Pilots, Supervisors and Engineers”.
Australia
is now developing robots to do repetitive and dangerous tasks such as mining
and faming due to a labour shortage. To
this end, he’s suggesting that Jamaica start training Engineers in this new
field of Mechatronics, quote: “Right now, 60 per cent of the best careers in
the next 10 years are yet to be invented, and so we have to desist from seeing
the Jamaican landscape separate from the world. We need to align our programmes
to international standards”.
Dr Fritz Pinnock said that the Engineer who sticks to one field would have a
problem, as Robotics Engineering requires knowledge of the following three
things:
1.
Value of a good attitude
2.
A foreign language (French or Spanish)
3.
Critical thinking skills
Not
surprisingly, he also blamed that lack of interest in Engineering on parents,
many of whom focus on having their children trained in more prestigious but less
rewarding fields such as Medicine and Law, quote: “Parents, too, are to be
blamed because everybody wants their daughter to become a lawyer, but we have
seen that the traditional way of doing things are still producing gaps”
This
is an opinion I share as Engineering is made to look less lucrative, despite
Engineers being top earners in the US of A as argued in my Geezam blog article entitled “Engineering
Degrees are among the Top Earning Degrees in the USA for Jamaican College
Students”.
In
fact, there is an Engineering Hiring spree currently ongoing since April 2015
based on the stats from a poll conducted by analyst Statista on behalf of
Financial Magazine Forbes as reported in my Geezam
blog article entitled “Why
Technology Companies are Seeking Engineers”.
Good
to hear the Politicians supporting this move, as Minister without portfolio in
the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing, Dr. Morais Guy, echoes that
sentiment: “Institutions such as CMI are needed, as they provide a niche in
education opportunities for youths in this country. Through increased education
and training, the sector here in Jamaica will not only be able to adopt new and
emerging technology but to create technology locally”.
Clearly
Jamaica is behind in the field of Robotics, Mechatronics as well as
Programming, quote: “If we are to in any way match up to the rest of the world,
we have to create something that is innovative, and the ministry is, therefore,
resolute in giving the necessary support, as the career opportunities are
endless”.
Already
Programming is being encouraged in High Schools among girls via the Girls who
Code Program as I'd reported in my blog article
entitled “Girls
Who Code Clubs Christmas eCard Project - Workshop for Software Coding Females
creating Evangelion Pilots passing on their knowledge”.
We
still have a lot of catching up to do, as all students, not just girls, need to
start learning Computer languages as well as Robotics from the Primary School
level!
Robotics Engineers and
Computer Programmers - Why Free Housing and Transportation needed to reduce
Brain-Drain
Wait,
Minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing?
Could
he also be offering housing solution to such graduates in a bid to have them
stay in Jamaica and use their skills, in a move similar to West Rural St Andrew
Member of Parliament Paul Buchanan plan to train Computer Programmer and build
housing for them as reported in my blog article entitled
“Computer
Programming the Future of Jamaica – How Paul Buchanan plans to jump start the
ICT Revolution”?
That
would be great, as in order to reduce brain-drain by people leaving for better
Jobs abroad after being trained on Robotics (Mechatronics if you will!) and
Programming as they're suggesting, providing free or heavily subsidized housing
would be a great way to keep them in Jamaica.
Many
skilled Jamaicans cannot find proper accommodations and a community setting of
like-minded persons to raise their children and practice their craft. It may
not be possible to pay such future skilled persons US$3000 per month (albeit I'd
love that!) in the next ten (10) years, but giving them free or heavily
subsidized Housing and even transportation would reduce the cost of living and
working in Jamaica.
Best
of all, the skills in Robotics and Programming will be needed to build the next
automated Factories to boost manufacturing as well as design Drones for
Jamaica's Fledgling Aerospace Industry as well as other areas, such as package
delivery as argued in my blog article
entitled “JCAA
Drones Regulations - Why GOJ Double-Standard suggest Commercial Drone Pilot
Licenses are coming”.
Folks,
like Australia, low-cost profitable and export-ready manufacturing sector and
an Aerospace Industry based on designing Drones require trained Engineers in
the Robotics and Programming Fields!
Stay
tuned to my blog, as I've now added Robotic, Mechatronics and Programming to my
Google Alerts search terms as more articles coming to chart these historic
developements!
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